11/10
- 16/10/00

11.10.00 After we gathered all the stuff in our
motorhome that we want to carry back home, we drove to Tonto Natural
Bridge State Park, the world's largest travertine natural bridge. The
bridge is really quite spectacular and very different from the ones we saw
before; it spans 60 m above Pine Creek. This State Park is also a nice
place to spend a day with the family. To finish up the day we drove to the
Houston Mesa National Forest Campground just before Payson.

12.10.00 After a relaxing morning lingering on
the campground, we drove to Shoofly Village, ruins of a Hohokam and Salado
dwellings near Payson, Arizona. All over the place there are pottery
pieces lying around, it's awesome! From this place you could see very
clearly the Mogollon Rim delimiting the southern part of the Colorado
Plateau. Then we drove down -literally, because we drove from a height of
1700 m down to 700 m- to Roosevelt Lake, experiencing so many different
vegetation types, from ponderosa pines, brush oaks, and juniper to saguaro
cacti!

13.10.00 Drive to Tonto National Monument,
Arizona. The trail that leads up to the cave dwellings is so interesting
because of all the impressive sonoran desert cactii along the way. The
Lower Cliff Dwelling of Tonto National Monument were built by the Salado
Indians around 1300 A.D. and are incredibly well preserved. On some rooms
even the original roof made of poles, saguaro ribs and clay is still
there! We decided to drive the unpaved Apache Trail to Apache Junction,
east entrance to Phoenix. Lunch stop at Tortilla Flat with an excellent
chicken almond salad in the Superstition Saloon where the walls are
plastered with $1 bills. The drive through Mesa, Tempe, Scottsdale up to
Carefree, where our friends Jutta and Tom live, took us about 2 hours
-with normal traffic conditions. We were very happy to meet them again and
we enjoyed a very nice evening together (and an excellent chili soup made
by Jutta with 8 different chilis).

14.10.00 Jutta and I had a great time together
in a fancy shopping mall while Volker, helped by Tom, filled boxes and
bags with all the stuff we wanted to take back to Europe. Late afternoon
we had an excellent steak dinner at Outback Steakhouse. Back home again,
we mounted my birthday telescope and had spectacular views of the full
moon and -this was very special- of Jupiter with 4 of his moons!

15.10.00 On our last day, we all hiked through
Sonoran Desert in the Cave Creek Recreation Area just 8 km away from Tom
and Jutta's home (10 km, 3 hours). To our delight, Tom, the "Desert
Rat", knew all the trees, cacti, and shrubs of this area. In the
evening we had a marvelous steak dinner. Tom grilled the steaks on
mesquite wood and they were absolutely delicious! After getting our camper
set up for a month's rest at Tom and Jutta's place during our absence,
they drove us to Sky Harbor Airport, Phoenix, Arizona. We are very sad to
leave, but we will come back in a month, and this makes us very happy.

Many people contributed to
make our trip more interesting, more pleasant and something really
special: We want to thank my uncle Jack and my cousin Andy Trout for giving us
major help planning our trip in the US. Also thanks to all friends and
relatives who welcomed us in their home, especially my uncle Uri Gat and
his wife Ruthi in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, my uncle Jack Trout in Mammoth
Lakes, California, my great cousin Mikey Levy in Mill Valley, California,
our friends Farrel and Manetta Lytle in Eagle Valley, Nevada, Jail &
Gail Kemp, and Jim & Dawn in Albuquerque, New Mexico, and, of course,
Jutta & Tom Marquez in Phoenix, Arizona.